One Company's Donating 60 Million Period Products To Women In Need This Month

"Periods need to be normalized, because that’s exactly what they are — normal.”

For a woman, getting her period can be painful enough: there's cramping, bloating, headaches, and other uncomfortable symptoms. But for many women around the world, the physical symptoms of their periods aren't their only problems.

In Britain, for instance, one in 10 females, ages 14 to 21, cannot afford sanitary towels or tampons, according to Plan International UK. Over 88 percent of women in India must use unsanitary means in place of sanitary napkins, according to The Times of India. This causes girls ages between the ages of 12 and 18 to miss school, and approximately 23 percent end up dropping out. This is happening in places like Sierra Leone, Nepal, and Afghanistan as well.

But one San Francisco-based company called L. is working to combat this by donating tampons, pads, and condoms to a female entrepreneur in a developing country every time a customer makes a purchase.

"By distributing through female entrepreneurs, we are able to help the women we work with generate their own income. We have found that when women are breadwinners in their families and communities, they have significantly more say in key decision making," it says on the L. website. "They are also incentivized to educate their peers about reducing the stigma of topics like the importance of health and wellness."

Now, L. will be donating 60 million period products to girls in honor of Women's History Month, Teen Vogue reports. "The goal, L. founder Talia Frenkel tells Teen Vogue, is to increase access and decrease shame for girls across the world."

"Menstrual equity is about access. Access to a safe, affordable necessity that the average woman will use more than 10,000 times in her life. It's really that simple," Frenkel adds. "It's clear that we are long overdue in addressing the deep-rooted stigma around 'that time of the month.' Periods need to be normalized, because that's exactly what they are — normal."

The company is working with a network of 2,800 female entrepreneurs, and their organic product range includes everything from regular and super tampons to pads and liners through a monthly subscription service.

"The quality is amazing, and I love that every purchase I make with them helps donate products to women in need,"one person commented on their site.